Tower bills will stay on the shelf

It looks like Mary Kay Sigaty was able to read the writing on the wall and decided to leave her two zoning bills on the shelf.

… in early October, when the parties involved in the negotiations over the Plaza's height signaled that they might be close to an agreement, Sigaty moved to table the amendments for 30 days, and the council agreed to do so.

Sigaty said she wanted to delay a vote on the measures to give the parties more time to reach a compromise. However, the talks soon broke down and the parties walked away without a deal.

This week, Sigaty said she will leave the fate of the Plaza up to the courts and will instead shift her efforts to helping to shepherd through a 30-year master plan to guide Town Center's redevelopment, the process of which is now underway.

"At this point, the opportunity to stop the (Plaza) is in the hands of the appellants and the legal system," Sigaty said.

Considering that the litigants have yet to show any standing, it is highly unlikely that the court system will block the Tower, although there may be a showdown in Annapolis which will further drag on this process and waste the builder’s money. The saddest part of all this, is that those participating in the compromise talks were within 30 feet of agreement. Let that sink in: 30 feet. That is about three stories. One of the litigants that oppose the Tower actually walked out of the compromise talks because the media was not invited to the table. Sad.